Obedience Is the Next Step

In this episode of The Morning Charge, Joshua focuses on obedience and what it means to respond when God has already spoken.

This message challenges listeners to move beyond seeking more revelation while neglecting the last thing God said to do. It highlights how many believers are not stuck because God is silent, but because they have not yet obeyed the direction He has already given.

This episode is a call to trust God, take the next step in faith, and live out what He has already placed in your heart. 

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- Real Talk. Real Jesus. Real Life. -

Transcript

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Welcome to the Morning Charge. This is your moment to slow down, breathe, and get your spirit aligned before stepping into the day ahead. Life moves fast, responsibilities pile up, voices compete for your attention. But before the noise of the world takes over, this is where we come back to what actually matters. This is a place for honest conversations about faith, life, purpose, and everyday battles we all face. No pretending, no religious performance, just the truth. Because following Jesus was never meant to be complicated, it was meant to be real. So whether you're driving to work, you're getting the kids ready, or simply taking a quiet moment for yourself, you're in the right place. This is real talk, real Jesus, real life. This is the morning charge. Without further ado, let's pray. Let's jump in. Let's see what the Holy Spirit wants to challenge us with today. All right, he's been dealing with me on a few different things. And so uh let's see what the Lord wants to share with us today. Because remember, he speaks to me through me. So, so yeah. So let's jump in. Father, I thank you, Lord, for everything you've been speaking to my heart. Father, I thank you what you've even been speaking to others in this moment and in this time, Lord. So many people are springing forth into new things. So many people are springing into what you have for them in this, well, springtime. We're springing into some new things. So, Father, we just want to, but but this morning, Father, we just want to press into you a little more. As we move into some new things and as we follow you in doing some things, Lord, we want to press into you this morning. What are you saying? What are you, what are you thinking? What are you feeling? What is on your heart today, Lord, for us? As we continue to move forward with you. Holy Spirit, come and have your way. We give you honor, glory, and praise in all things right now in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, let's go over here. So I'm praying about, we've gone through the book of Acts. The Lord has been really specifically speaking to me about breaking that down. What does that look like? We've gone through the book of Acts. We've learned a whole lot. We've seen how the apostles lived and how they discipled, how the disciples went, they began to share the gospel, the persecution they've gone through, the things they've pushed through, the power of the Lord coming and shaking the foundations of the earth, breaking chains. We've seen so much through the book of Acts, how he used bad situations to put Paul in front of kings to be able to speak the truth to those in influence, especially in Rome, which was the epicenter of the world at the time, would look like a bad situation. God placed him right there in the middle to be able to speak to powerful voices and speak the truth. The Lord's speaking to me this morning about the next step is obedience. All right, there comes a point in our walk with God where the issue is no longer the lack of revelation. God has showed you and he has showed you and he has showed you and he has shown you again. He's put voices around you to speak into your life. And you've had revelation after revelation. Maybe you've had prophetic word after prophetic word. Oh, they all line up. God is going to do it. But the issue is not the revelation. What the issue is, is obedience. I'm just going to be honest with us this morning, if that's okay. Because if we are not careful, we will just have gone through the book of Acts, like we went through the book of Revelation. I mean, uh, the book of Romans. Sorry, we ain't got that far yet. And 1 Corinthians and Proverbs and Job and all of those. We've we've we've we've we've gone over them. But are we going to take what we've learned from them and apply them? Are we going to be obedient? All right, there's a whole lot of believers right now who are saying, and they keep saying, God, speak to me. Lord, speak to me. Will you just speak to me? Lord, I want to hear your voice. Lord, just speak to me. God, just show me what to do. Show me where to go. God, God, where's the open door? Lord, just tell me what to do next. But guess what? Heaven is not always waiting on God to speak again. Heaven is not always, many times heaven is waiting on us to obey what he has already said. So the question we have to ask ourselves this morning, what has he already said? What has he said already? So that's our word for this morning. You don't need more information. You need to obey what God has already spoken. Salah. That could be the whole thing today. What has God already spoken? Are you walking out what God has already spoken for you? All right, there's a lot of believers who are not stuck because God is silent. They're stuck because they have not obeyed the last instructions. See, I I I've gone through periods in my life where it's just like the words, like I was getting prophetic words, and the Lord was showing me lots of things in the word. And in my prayer time, he was dropping a lot of things, and they were all they were all correlating together and coming together. And then after that was a period of silence. And I'm like, this is strange. We would go to meetings, no word. We would go to, I go into my prayer time, it was quiet. I would try to thumb through the word to try to get more, and it's all I had. And I've gone, I've gone weeks and months before silence. And I'm just like, what in the world, Lord? You're not speaking. And that, and and and what the Lord showed me and what he has spoken to me about that was because you need to go back to the last thing I said. Whatever God has shown you, whatever he has been doing, go back to that. Whatever he was showing you, go back to that. If it's been quiet for you, I encourage you to go back to the last thing the Lord spoke to you. Have you not stepped out into that thing he's asked you to step out into? Have you not begun to help with this thing that he's asked you to help with? Whatever it is, if you haven't, you better go back and you better go see what the last thing was that he said to you. Amen. We are stuck because we haven't obeyed our last instructions. See, there's a lot of people that they're waiting for step ten while ignoring step one. See, that's the other thing too. God shows you a vision and he drops something in your spirit, and you want it to be done. But you have to start back here, and you gotta put one step forward and God will move, and then you put another step forward, and then God will move. See, a lot of people are asking for a new direction, and you haven't you haven't done what he's already spoken to you. He's like, go back to what I've already said. Go back to what I've said. And the truth is here, one thing we gotta remember partial obedience, sorta kind of being obedient, is still disobedience. You you you sorta kind of did a little something, but that was not obedience. No, that was not obedience. That selective obedience, as the Lord dropped it in my spirit, selective obedience. You're obedient when it's comfortable. If it looks attainable, I'll be obedient. If it looks way too hard, oh, that was probably just something I thought of. That was probably something that, you know, I I can't do that. See, we got to change our language. There's a whole lot of people walking around saying, I can't. Instead of saying I can't do that, you need to ask yourself this. How can I do that? Uh-oh. What happens when you change your language? I'm big on speech. I'm big on how we talk. I'm big on how we talk. So are you going to change your language? Change your language this morning and begin to say, how can I? Because when you say how can I, that opens up room for creativity. If you say I can't, there's no hope. There's no hope. God, I can't do that. That's the end. There is no more going after that. But when you say, God, how can I do that? Watch and see the blueprint drop, and you get the pieces you need as you continue to move forward. I posted a thing yesterday because I was trying to encourage people to step out. Now, I don't mean be a bull in a china shop and step out and willy-nilly your life. I'm not saying just be reckless with it. What I'm saying is if God calls you to do something, you put a step towards that. Okay? Put a step towards that. It didn't make any sense to us to not renew the lease on our house back in September for October. Thank you for that, whoever that was. But it made no sense for us to not renew the lease on our house. Why? When you still have six kids living at home, plus me and Brandy, so that's eight people in our house. Would I go from 2,300 square foot to 300 square feet in my RV? That makes no sense. But God has a purpose. See, he needed us to be mobile so that we could get to where we needed to go and not have any restraints. That didn't make any sense to us in that moment. We just knew our housing situation needed to change. We had no idea what we needed to do. But we did it. And now we begin to see how the Lord has begun to move. Right now we've gone from Pensacola, we've gone to Northeast Alabama. All right. I can't pick up a 2,300 square foot house and move it. Okay. I can move. Okay, but the Lord needed something to be able to get us where he wanted us to go. See, that was the key. I'm not saying this is not your story. All right, your story may look completely different. All right. It may be starting that new business, or it may be doing the same, you know, doing something that he's been calling you to do in your community that you haven't stepped into. Whatever it is, position yourself and allow him to drop the blueprints and take step one and then step two. Stop trying to leap and take step 10 from the step one position. All right. Is everybody tracking with me? Because I can tell you the Lord's going to ask you to do some things that make no sense. It makes no sense. And we have to push past this because this is the thing that gets in our way. This gets in our way. All right. So let's take a look at some things. Goodness gracious. Hopefully we'll make it. All right. Obedience is the proof that we really believe God. I'm going to say that again. Obedience is the proof that we really believe God. All right. It's easy to say that we trust God. It's easy to sing about surrender. I surrender. I want to know you, Lord. It's easy. It's easy when we sing these things and we say that we trust God and we quote verses all day about faith. I could sit here and quote verses all day about faith, faith, faith. Amen. But faith is proven in your obedience. In other words, there's a walking out of what you've been talking. Are you walking what you're talking? I posted something about that the other day. If you ain't walking what you're talking, well, then you need to just keep on walking away or quit talking. Probably step one would be stop talking. All right, but our faith is proven in our obedience. John 14 and 15 tells us this: loving me, all right, this is Jesus talking. Loving me empowers you to obey my commands. So if you want to know where to start or how to begin to walk things out, how about we just love Jesus? Jesus told us, John 14, 15, loving me empowers you to obey my commands. So as he leads and as he says to go, we love on Jesus and we follow the way. Just like the apostles. All right, real love for Jesus is not just this emotional thing loving Jesus. All right, it is it is a type of love that produces obedience in your life. So start there. All right, Luke 6 and 46 tells us this. All right, Jesus said, but why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say? Why do you, why do you call me that, but yet you're not doing a thing that I'm telling you to do? That's a that's a that's a that's a big question for us. Are we doing what Jesus is saying? Are we following the Holy Spirit in our lives to accomplish everything that he has placed before us? Are we? Because if he is Lord, his word carries what? His word carries authority. Amen. That was Luke 6 and 46. Luke 6 46. If he is Lord, then we don't just admire what he says, we obey what he says. It is not just to hear those words and say, boy, that's great. No, it's to obey what he's saying. He said, You're not doing a thing, I'm telling you. And we're on a mission in 2026 to adopt the lifestyles of Jesus. That means there has to be a walking out of this lifestyle if you want to get anywhere. And Jesus is already telling us, love me. And that'll help you be able to obey my commands. If you're not doing the things in which he says, are we loving him? Are we truly because love is like I said, it's not just a feeling, love is also the truth, and we've got to be willing to hear the truth and be led in the truth by way of the Holy Spirit. It's a laying down of our own lives every day. It's not about comfort, this is about obedience. Obedience is not comfortable sometimes. Hello? A lot of people want a savior, but just come and save me, don't give me any directions. A lot of people want that savior in their life, and then when they get saved, they're off on their merry way again. No, we've got to listen to the instructions of Jesus. We've got to allow him to be able to correct us. We've got to allow him to be able to take us through the processes. A lot of people want breakthrough in their lives, but they don't want to be obedient. Uh-oh. I want the breakthrough, Lord. I want it. Will you bring it? He's like, are you gonna listen? Are you gonna love? Are you gonna move? Amen. Catherine, thank you. Carolyn, thank y'all this morning. Thank you, Jesus. Amen, Kim. Lay it at his feet. He'll bring healing. In the name of Jesus, I know he'll bring healing. Amen. Amen. Some of you are contending for your own healing, some of you are contending for the healing of others. Know that God is still in the healing business, he's still in the restoration business, and he is going to move mightily for you and your families. Keep pressing in. Don't give up. It's easy to grow weary. Don't you grow weary? And that's another part of what we're talking about today. Amen. But we can't keep saying that I trust you, Lord, I trust you, Lord, I trust you, Lord, but I'm resisting him in every area because that's not the comfortable way. Ooh, that's the unfamiliar way. I'm just gonna stay right here. Lord, I'm gonna trust that you're gonna bring me something comfy. That's what that's what we really mean. Lord, I'm gonna just stay right here in my comfort bubble. And you come and move, and I'll step when it's comfortable. That's not how that works. That's not how that works. Jessica, good morning. Good to see you down there, my friend. Amen. Welcome in. We're talking about obedience this morning. Oh, glory. Let's go back to what I said a few moments ago at the start. There's a lot of believers that are waiting on this new word from the Lord, but they need to obey the one they have already had. You're waiting on something. We all like something fresh. We all like something new, and he is doing some fresh things and some new things right now. But don't let this grow stale because you didn't step in fully. Remember? You got to step in fully. This is where a lot of people get stuck. All right. They they they want something fresh, but God begins to point them back to the instructions that he's already given. All right. Maybe he's told you to forgive someone. All right. Maybe he's told you to leave a compromising relationship, a place that you're kind of half in and half out. Sometimes you have to change your ring of people and your ring of influence to begin to see godly results in your life. It's just something that has to take place. Maybe he's told you to pray about something, pray for something. Maybe he's even woken you up at three o'clock in the morning and you lay there confused as to why you're wide awake at three o'clock in the morning. And instead of hearing the voice of the Lord and getting up to pray, we just try to go back to sleep. Maybe he's told you to start something. Maybe he's told you to stop something. Hello? Maybe he's told you to step out and do something, or maybe he's told you to be still. But instead of obeying, many of us continue to circle the same old mountain for a brand new message. We're going around the mountain hoping for something new. Let's go around the mountain again. Maybe we'll see something new. All right, James 1 and 22 tells us that we are told to be doers of the word and not merely listeners only. Listeners deceive themselves. Listeners deceive themselves. Hearing without doing creates deception. Hearing and not doing means you've been deceived somewhere along the way because you've been hearing the voice of the Lord, but you haven't taken, you haven't put feet to it. Amen. Ask the Holy Spirit. And just wait upon Him. If you don't just say, Lord, I give this moment, I give this time to you. Holy Spirit, I just love you. And just see what He has for you. You have to solely rely on the Holy Spirit. If you wake up at 3 o'clock, I have no idea. I get up and I just say, Lord, why am I awake? What do you want me to see? What do you want me to hear? What do you want me to do? What do you want me to pray? And then I just follow him. I follow the Holy Spirit. He's the helper. Acts 19 and 11. He is our helper. You don't step out alone. He's right there with you. But we got to be doers of the word. Someone can think they are growing because they keep hearing the truth. I'm growing. I'm listening. I'm learning. Well, that means you're just getting smart. All right. But if truth is not walked out in obedience, then there is no maturity in that. Mature true believers are ones that hear and know, and then there sends a message down to their feet and they begin to do this in the way that God sends them. You can sit here and turn on every sermon. All right. You can listen to sermons all day, every day, and you can still stay bound up. I know a lot of people who are still bound in their situations and they leave it on Christian radio or they listen to Christian podcasts all day long. Still stuck. Don't be stuck. And the reason most people get stuck is because they just continue to sit in their situations all day. Because they've heard a whole lot, but they haven't begun to change anything. They haven't trusted the Lord to change anything. We have to trust him. You can sit there and write all the revelations in your notebooks you want to, and you can still stay stuck where you've been. You can learn to quote every scripture without having to open the good book, and you can still remain unchanged if you don't obey. See. Yeah. It's about applying it to your life. The enemy does not care if you listen to preaching or you read your Bible every day. He you know what the enemy knows the word. The enemy can quote the word better than some. He knows the words on these pages. We have to go beyond that because we can take action in the right ways. Amen. Obedience often comes before our understanding. I've said that. You step out into the unknown. That's what the song, the song Oceans, where feet may fail. That's when you have to completely trust him. I've been on that journey most of my life. I have. A lot of people struggle with this part. And this is the reason why most people don't step out and they don't change and they don't do what they're feeling the Holy Spirit say do, or what the Holy Spirit has even spoken through other people for them to do. Amen. Yeah, you gotta you have to pour out to be filled up. That's obedience. But you have to go and pour out where God says to go pour out if you want to get filled back up again. There's a lot of aspects to this. But we want to sit here and we want God to explain it all first. I am this is where I am very guilty. I've just, y'all know me, I'm very transparent before you because if the Lord speaks something to me, I'm a planner, I'm a visionary, and I'm one that likes to plan out step one, step two, step three, and I like to have all my ducks in a row and say, well, we need this and we need this and we need this and we need that and we need all that. And then what happens when you begin to balloon out? And I'm not saying don't have a plan, have a plan. All right, listen to the Holy Spirit, write down anything he tells you to, but then you've got to begin to follow the plan, starting with using what you have. When I started going live on TikTok, I thought, I don't have this and I don't have that, and I don't do, and I don't, and the Lord started reminding me, well, actually, you already have this and you already have that, so you could piece this together and that'll work for that. Start by using what you have and go and grow from there. But a lot of us get stuck because we want everything at one time. I want it all right now. All right, it'd be like having a cleaning company. Well, I want the facility and all the supplies and all the equipment and all the vehicles and all the cleaners and all the there's a lot of money that goes into all this. Brandy and I, when we started our cleaning company in Pensacola, we used what we had: her, me, and some vacuums and cleaning equipment and call in property managers to see, hey, do you have any work? And that is how Branjo cleaning services start. We started with short-term rentals. Brandy took half the kids to clean with her. I took the other half with me, and we split up the whole family and we got in there and we got it done. We could have chose to sat at home and thought, well, if we want to do this, we got to do it this way. And then we don't have that. And we could have talked ourselves out of what God was speaking to us. We we could have we could have backpedaled and talked ourselves out of it. But we decided to arise above any challenges that came and trust God with what we didn't know. And now, three years later, we have a group of wonderful, wonderful people who are handling our Pensacola location. And now we have come to the Northeast Alabama area to do it again. Had we not taken a step, we wouldn't be here taking a step. Now that's just a small, minute part of why the Lord has called us to North Alabama, okay? And then who knows where else where the Lord could take us? Do it again, Lord. Do it again, Lord. There's a lot of people who are who you're you're still sitting there and you're still wondering how you're going to get it done. And what I want to encourage you to is to step outside of this and start getting it done. Start getting it done. That's it. What do you have? Look at your hands today and say, what is God, what have you created these hands to do? Really, what have you created these hands to do? And then just begin to walk in what it is he's created these hands to do. We really want the whole blueprint in front of us. And we want the comfort of certainty before we move. You can talk to any pastor anywhere, or any any leader in church. Okay. Rarely did they step out and have tons of money to get a place where people can gather and this, that, and the other, the things that are needed, and that they're taken care of. And they just they just stepped out and started doing it. Wherever they were, whatever God was calling them to do. God does not bring everything you need because what he's looking for is he's looking for your obedience to move the direction he's asking you to move. And then when he can entrust you with this, he'll bring this. And when he can entrust you with that, he will bring that. That's right. That's right, Wayne. Step of faith. When you step, he will meet you in that step. When you step again, he will meet you in that step again. Proverbs three, five through six. Acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path. Did we get that? Trust comes before the direction is fully seen. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge him, and then he will direct your path. My goodness. Yeah. Yeah, Larry says over here, it's still building because of a vision, his church. But somebody had to step out. If somebody didn't step out, there could be no putting together of anything. The Lord gave me a word about fire and water ministries, this huge download of a word. And in part of what the Lord spoke to me, when he asked us to step out, he said, somebody is waiting on the solution that I have placed in your hands. In other words, when you delay what God has put on your life to do, you are delaying the promises of God to other people. When you look at the grand scale of things like that, that begins to, oh Lord, if I don't step out, somebody can't receive what they need to receive. If they don't step out, I may not receive what I needed to receive. Because guess what? God is still in the people business. Hello? Hello, everyone. All 131 of us. God is still in the people business. He's still about your life. He's still about community. He's still about connecting you with other people to get done with what he wants to do. His kingdom come, his will be done on this earth just as it is in heaven. If we want to see things just as it is in heaven, we have got to step out and do what he's asked us to do. Hello? Even when they split the Red Sea, they had to take the step before the sea split. There was no sea splitting until they took a step towards it. God used people to step towards it so his mighty power could be displayed in that moment. God wants you to step forward so that he can move in power through you. He wants you to be a willing vessel to be in place and be positioned, be in alignment with him in the place that he's put you so that he can begin to move in power. There is a lot of people with hungry hearts and that love Jesus that are coming together this Friday and Saturday in Bremen, Kentucky. And I can promise you it's not a matter of is God going to move? No, no, no. No, when people come together in the place that He has called them in that moment in that time. See, we're so, we we look so far ahead, we'll miss this moment. I want to be in the moment of today. Tomorrow I'll be in the moment of tomorrow. Won't He do it? Won't He do it? He'll come and do it. Amen. That's it. Blessed words. God's going to open doors, but you still need to walk through the doors. And there's a lot of you in here who have been banging on closed doors trying to get those doors back open again. See, see, we we get so out there and we feel like that job where we just got fired from that we loved so much that we were hanging so dearly onto because it was our identity, and the Lord had to break us from that job. We're trying to pound the door and kick the door back down again because we want to get in real bad. That's not what God has for you anymore. Yes, it was a bad situation. Yes, you went through a lot of turmoil through it. You feel like you've lost some things, but I'm telling you, you have everything to gain at this point. God wants to take you to the place. I don't know, I'm speaking to somebody this morning. God wants to take you to the next place that he has for you. So let go of what you thought was your identity because your identity is only found in him. You are a son or a daughter. That's your identity. That's who you are. Come on. Angie, thanks this morning. I appreciate those. Amen. Can someone who backslid from church be saved again? Little Leah, if you if you have given your life to Jesus, okay, you may have not been going to church or doing what you're supposed to be doing, but I can tell you that Jesus is there with you. Jesus wants to have a relationship with you. And it seems like at one point you found him, but you feel like you have lost him. But can I tell you, Jesus is right there with you. All you have to say is, Jesus, I love you and I need your help. And when you call on the name of Jesus, he'll be there. When you call on the name of Jesus, you shall be saved. When you call on the name of Jesus, he is there with you. If you believe that he unalived on that cross for your sins, all right, and he has given you life and life more abundantly, and you know who Jesus is, begin to run and just say, Jesus, here I am. I'm sorry, I've I'm sorry I have left the way. Lord, show me the way again. He's going to be right there with you. It's that easy. We take this gospel and we make it complicated. It's not complicated. This is not a complicated book. If we, I mean, we try to read into it too much. But the words of Jesus are the words of Jesus. The words of the apostles are the words of the apostles. I like to glean from the culture and why they spoke the way that they spoke, why they said what they said. I'm not really trading off livestock with anyone these days. But the principles are huge and they remain and they're simple. Jesus said, follow me. Follow me. Are we going to follow him today? Are we going to trust him? God often just gives you enough light in your path to see the next step. You ever think about that? God often gives you enough light in your path for the next step. He doesn't illuminate the entire path. He doesn't illuminate the entire path. He gives you just enough light so you can see what's in front of you. Because if he shined the light on the whole thing, it would probably scare most of us. And if we aren't willing to step out and take the first step, why in the world are we asking him to see what's ten steps ahead? If you can't trust him in the right now with the little bit, don't be asking for all that. He's a loving father. Do you understand? He's a loving father, and he's wants to meet you wherever you're stepping. Where are you stepping? Are you stepping where he's illuminating? Thank you, Jesus. Hebrews 11 and 8. In Hebrews 11 and 8, we see where Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place that he would later receive as his inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. Let me let me say that again. Amen. Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place that he would later receive as his inheritance, but he went out not knowing where he was going. He had no clue. He had no clue where he was going. Amen. That's real obedience. I don't know where I'm going, Lord, but I know you have an inheritance for me, so I'm going to step out. All you can see is what you can see right now. You see that I have limited resources. You see that my bank account doesn't even line up with what I got to pay today or this week. You see that you see other people who are up here and that, well, they must have been born into that, or they must have been given tons of money to be able to do that. And some businesses and things get investors to be able to do some things, but kingdom business looks a little different sometimes. You're not going to have everything you need. But God's going to say, Will you step out with what you have? Will you step out with what you have? That's what he's looking for. Abraham had no idea where he was going, but he stepped out with what he had, his shoes on his feet, and probably whatever little bit he needed to carry with him. And he left the house and he said, Lord, I trust you. And when he left, he went on a journey with the Lord and later received his inheritance. A lot of people wondering, I've gone years and I haven't seen a thing. That's because you haven't stepped out. You haven't stepped out. Abraham moved without full explanation. He followed without all the details and he trusted God enough to move before he understood everything. I'm still doing things today I don't understand. If you want just the guy in front of the camera to be honest with you, I don't have it all together. I don't know everything. I I've I've heard the Lord speak to me. I know what I what I am to do today. But I don't know the full picture down the road. I only know what God has said. But if it stops with just what he said and I don't do anything, hello. But I but I I want you guys to use me as an example if you need to, on what God can do. You hear us talking. Most of you guys have followed our journey. Hopefully you've seen God do something. Let that be a testament to you to step out and allow you to see something on your end. Stepping out. Trust with the Lord is proven by moving with him. The cloud by day and the fire by night. And let's not forget that there is a cost to disobedience. Disobedience that's what keeps you going around the mountain. Round the mountain, round the mountain, round the mountain. I'm stuck, stuck, stuck. You're like a hamster in a wheel. All right, Psalms 95, 7 through 11. There's a warning that is given in Psalms. It says, Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. What today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts. Either that could be correction that could be coming to you, that could be something that he has spoken to you, and I can't do that. Well, you've shut it down. So you shut down exactly what God said. So what you're saying when you say that is, God, you can't do it. When I say I can't do that, I'm really saying, God, you can't do that. Because it's not all on me. It's a partnership with God. My goodness, that's my heart message, man. One of the greatest costs of you getting what God has for you is delaying it. God is merciful, He is kind, He is loving, but I'm here to tell you this morning that disobedience will prolong a lot of things. Yes, He's kind, yes, He's loving. But if you're disobedient or you're partially obedient, He can't move with that. He can't do anything with that. The children of Israel are our sobering example of that. God had the promised land for them. He had promised them a land, but unbelief, disobedience, it kept them circling in the wilderness. Circling and circling and circling and circling and circling. Well, it should have been a really quick trip. Took a really long time. And we wonder why we keep going around the mountain. When God speaks to you, if he has spoken to you, I want to encourage you that the time to answer him is today. Josh, when do I answer? When do I do it today? You you need to take a step towards something today. Even if today is getting in the secret place and saying, Lord, I got to regroup with you. I I'm I'm hearing this and I'm feeling those things that you have spoken to me. I'm hearing those things come back. You might be going through your journal. All right, everybody better have one of these, either on paper or digital. I like, I like just sitting and writing with the Lord, but I love using my notepad on my on my pad because I can hit the microphone. Sometimes, sometimes this doesn't keep up with my mind or my my mouth. All right, sometimes I just gotta hit the thing on and just get to talking. We have technology now. There should be no reason why we don't document things when we feel the things of the Lord. Hit the little microphone down there and say, All right, I feel the Lord is saying, and then just let the Lord speak through you and get it all down. It ain't gotta look pretty. Gosh, we get caught up in this, gotta be formatted like this, and it's gotta no, no, no, just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. What is God saying? When God speaks, respond immediately. Today. Today. Don't wait until things feel easier. Don't wait until the perfect moment. You hear people talk about kids all the time. Well, I'm gonna wait until I have the better job, and then, you know, where where she can be home more, and then uh we're gonna wait until if you keep waiting until you have this much in the bank, until your situation looks like this, until you're you're gonna be 50 and be like, well. Now, once again, I'm not saying don't be smart about things. But what I'm saying is don't wait until things feel easier to do something. Don't wait until it makes a little more sense. Don't wait until here's a big one. Don't wait until everybody has approved of what I'm doing. Oh, there's a lot of people saying this won't work because of this, and it won't work because of that, and we better listen to all of them because who told you? Did they tell you to do something? Or did God Almighty speak to you in your heart and in the the leading of the Holy Spirit and say, Step out, I need you to. And now you want to hear from all the voices around you who are who are speaking. Speaking to you, by the way, of veils in front of them of past hurt, past failures, past regrets, because they stepped out into something God didn't call them to, that's why it didn't work out. Or they stepped out into something and got their hands too much on it, and that's why it didn't work out. We can choke something out now. When we get our hands around something that the Lord wants to do, we can begin to. It's just truth. Yeah, we got to get ourselves and those voices out of the way. Not everybody is going to understand. Do not expect everybody to understand the assignment the Lord has put in your heart or that he has put on your life. Do not expect that. Do not expect people to understand that why are you moving from your house into your RV? That doesn't make any sense. Well, why why are you going to North Alabama too? Why are you, why are you doing this? Why the everybody is going to question why, why, why. Most of the people that are good, why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? Why are you doing that? Is because they're sitting in their own in their own disappointments. And when people see movement and they see growth and they see things happening, they look at your situation and all they can see is the mess that they're sitting in. And then when people give you advice, advice, take that term very loosely, but when people give you advice, there's their sitting in their life of, I didn't get to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish, and neither should you. While they feel like they're giving you the best things, a lot of voices are not. You need to be hearing from godly voices. It's not a matter of, am I going to? It's a matter of, I'm going to, Lord. And here's what we're doing with God. Don't allow people to sway your decisions. Not everybody's going to understand. Okay. And just remember that small acts of obedience, small acts of obedience, even doing the things you don't understand, begin to unlock bigger assignments for you. Okay? Doing things in the little right now are going to begin to unlock bigger assignments for you. All right. There's a lot of people who want, they want this big calling and they want this big ministry and they want to grow this big business. I want to be a major influence. I want to, but you're looking at the wrong things. You're looking at the wrong things. See, you want all of this up here, but you're not willing to do this down here. If you're not willing to do these small things that God wants to entrust you with, you ain't gonna get up here. And you got to get your priorities right. You must get your priorities in order because if you're not standing on a firm foundation, it shall surely fall. You shall surely fall. Boy, that's it. Jesus was humble and he was obedient. He said what the Father said, he did what the Father said do. We have got to get our priorities back into check again. Kingdom, the kingdom of the Lord is built on faithfulness in the little things. What has he called you to do? What has he called me to do? What is he called them to do? I mean, if we all did our part, it brings forth a bigger picture in the kingdom. But there's a lot of people who aren't doing their part, and other people are having to pick up the pieces. We all need to balance back out again with God. Luke 16 and 10. Jesus said, He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much. Someone who's faithful in the little is also faithful in the big. God is looking and he is watching what we do with the simple instructions that he's already given us. Have we begun to walk out what we need to walk out? Are you a person that can obey him when nobody's watching? Are you a person that can obey and do and say when you're not in front of a big crowd? How do you handle yourself at a restaurant when the waitress gets the order wrong twice? Because she's having a bad day, and you never stop to check on her or him or whoever. All you can think of is I want my food and I want it right now. I'm entitled to this. I'm a paying customer. And you keep getting this wrong. I need somebody new. Instead of stop and be like, is everything okay? I'm just checking on you. Doesn't look like it's a good day. Amen. Sometimes I'm not so good. I'm not saying we're all perfect in those areas because we do get fleshy from time to time. Nobody's perfect, amen. But we got to be careful. How are we handling ourselves when we feel like nobody is watching? There's a lot of people that are looking for public promotion, but they have completely neglected what God wants to do in private and being obedient in what God has asked them to do. Because you want somebody watching, you want somebody looking, you want somebody to see see what I'm doing, doing, doing. God builds our lives step by step. If you take David as an example, he was faithful in the field before he ever stood before Goliath. He was faithful out tending the sheep, a humble little shepherd, little shepherd boy. But God saw him in those humble moments. What about the disciples that left their nets before they turned the whole world upside down with Jesus? They were faithful ones in the community and doing what they did. And then, of course, where we went in Acts, the upper room that came before Pentecost power poured out. They had to get themselves in the upper room and position themselves because there was a promise from Jesus that he was coming and he was sending his Holy Spirit. And he did. Somebody needs to hear this this morning. The next big thing in your life could be tied to the one small, simple act of obedience that God is calling you into right now. The next big breakthrough in your life could be tied to the thing that God is looking and saying, if you do this, we'll see where you're at. Amen. Amen. Gigi's Corner, I see you. Do I have a church that I pastor? I don't have a church that I pastor, all right, but Brandy and I have fire and water ministries. All right. We're called to be missionaries around America right now. And our home church is if you see Apostle Kelly Lee here with Higher Plains Ministries, that those that is our covering. Amen. And so yeah, so there you go. That's about all I got on us. Amen. But I am here, I am here daily every every weekday morning at 7 a.m. for the morning charge. And we go through this stuff. We've covered the whole book of Acts. We've done Romans and 1st Corinthians and Proverbs and Job. And if you stick around long enough, you know, I I am more into I'm just gonna I'm gonna step out and say this. I am more into discipling people to walk out the word of God than I am standing in a pulpit every Sunday morning. That's just me. Amen. That that's that's just that's just who that's just who I am. I want to see so many, and when the Lord spoke fire and water ministries to Brandy and myself, he said, There will be those that are saved, but there will be even more discipled. Discipleship is on the heart of the Lord more than it ever has been, because we, and I've been through those seasons in my life where I was one that went and and and warmed the seat or the pew. And I went every Sunday. I faithfully checked the box. I was a good little Christian boy. I just go check the box every week. Walking around, still not quite knowing whose I really was. Amen. Whose I really was. Amen. Kara, if if you are feeling led to do that, all you have to do is go to the link in the BIO, okay, wherever you see that, the link in the BIO, okay? And it says the thing that says monthly partners, okay, or you that you can do all of that from there. All right. You it's not like something you got to sign up on this recurring thing. All right, you can, but you don't have to. If you just want to do it when the Lord prompts you to do it, just go to that where it says monthly partners, all right? Fire and water ministries monthly partners, you can go do that there, my friend, if you're feeling led. I don't ever just throw that out there, you know, to to for that. But if the Lord lays it on your heart, amen, you can do that. Uh, amen. You can click his face, go to his can you do that? Can you click on my face? I don't know. It's the link in the BIO. It's the only link there. So uh, so yes, for sure, 100%. Thank you. And we do thank you for those that that have given and and and for Kara and and all of you guys that are monthly partners with us, okay? Because I just want you to know that travel is expensive. Brandy and I put some skin in the game. Amen. And remember, when we go places, we leave our businesses and we go because we want to be ones that are able to go and do what God says when He says to go and do. So I want you to know that if we do not take a salary from our ministry, absolutely we don't. Okay, we have we we're like Paul. All right. Well, I don't make tents, and you wouldn't want to sleep in a tent that I made. But he's called us to have our businesses to be able to sustain our family. But when it comes beyond that, we thank you so much for our monthly partners and those that do faithfully give because it helps us get to where we're going. Because I don't want to be one that that a church says, hey Josh, can you come? And I look at my bank account and I'm like, what do y'all have? And they may not have a lot. And now that's limited us and restricted us on where we can go. I don't like that. I like us bringing our business and putting some money in, and then our monthly partners and you guys putting some in. And when it all collectively comes together, we're able to go and not put a burden on other ministries. That's the whole main deal that 501c3 has set up. And 501, and it is. Firewater ministries is a 501c3 as well. So if you do give, it is tax deductible. You get your little tax thing and you put it on your taxes the next year if that's important to you. Amen. So uh so there you go. I don't talk a whole lot about that part of it, and the Lord's kind of been nudging me about it. Once again, I am not, I get myself in the way when I begin to talk about stuff like that because I don't ever want to self-promote or this and that. And I st I still I struggle with the Lord in that. I struggle with the Lord just getting here on social media to do what we're doing here because I didn't want to be building anything tied to the guy's name that's up there in the corner, that Josh dude. Okay. I wanted it to be all about Jesus, but what the Lord has gotten me about on me and my once again those corrective words, the Lord says, Yes, but I didn't call just you to handle it. I called the kingdom to come along and be able to. The Lord says, I want to bring my kingdom here on the earth. He says, and you can't do that by yourself. So we thank you for the community that the Lord has surrounded us with because it's not just a me and Brandy thing. This is this is a body of Christ thing. Amen. This is a body of Christ thing. And we want to be able to take the gospel of Jesus to wherever he sends us in America, wherever the doors open. All right. And that's just that's just it. That's what fire and water, fire and water. God said fire. The fire, it's like when a forester sets a fire under the forest. You see these controlled burns about this time every year. The fire burns away all of the junk that's on the underneath. And what happens is when you burn away all the brush, the trees, the forest, the whole ecosystem of the forest begins to thrive. And then when the rain begins to fall, the fire, it brings forth the new growth that can grow, that couldn't grow before when things were all weeded and tangled in together. When the Lord began to speak fire and water to me, he showed me that example. He wants to burn away things in your life. And then he's going to bring the rain to wash away all of the ashes and all of the things of the past. New seeds are going to fall and new life is going to spring forth in people's lives. Once again, it's simple. It's simple. And it's discipling people to understand how simple this really is. He's so simple. And he's so good. Father, I thank you, Lord. I thank you, Lord, that you're calling us to be people that step out in faith. I thank you, Lord, that you are calling even others to step out in faith, Father. Lord, to just lean in to the words that you have spoken to them, to just lean in a little more to the vision that you've been giving people. Father, Lord, that there's there's uh there's much to be accomplished for the kingdom. God, may we be ones that hear your voice, that sense the leading of the Holy Spirit, that go forth and begin to do everything that you've called us to do. Lord, continue to move. Father, I pray over those that have feel stuck this morning. Lord, that they would be unstuck right now in Jesus' name. That the, that the that the dam that has been built up in their lives, causing the water to not flow. Father, I pray, Lord, that every dam would burst open today. Father, that the water would just begin to flow and begin to go right now. Right now in Jesus' name. Right now in Jesus' name. Oh Lord, thank you. To begin to share the gospel of Jesus in a pure, unadulterated way, where it goes back to just it is the gospel, just is what it is. It says what it says, and we need to walk out what it says. I thank you, Lord, for the life that you've given me. And we celebrate the life that you've given everyone in this place. Jesus, will you come and move? Come and move. Come and move right now. Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. That's today's morning charge. Before you move on with your day, take a moment and let what you've heard settle into your heart. Faith isn't just something we talk about, it's something we live out in the ordinary moments of everyday life. Wherever today takes you, remember this. You don't walk into it alone. God is already ahead of you, working in ways you may not even see yet. Stand firm, walk in wisdom, lead with love, and don't forget who you belong to. Until next time, keep your heart anchored, keep your faith strong, and keep living out real talk, real Jesus, real life. We'll see you on the next morning charge.